From kindergarten to high school our interests change naturally, but sometimes they change because other people judge you for them. Being judged for your hobbies and interests is a common thing most students experience and many people don’t understand why this keeps happening.
Judging people for their hobbies and interests is wrong and has many negative effects on students’ lives.
It is not excusable and something needs to be done to change this very common problem in schools as it separates students dramatically and lowers the sense of belonging in schools.
Middle schoolers and high school students are going through some of the biggest developmental stages of their lives. So, the place they spend roughly eight hours a day, five days a week at needs to be a safe environment. The National Association of Secondary School Principals surveyed students and showed that a little less than half of high schoolers don’t feel a sense of belonging at school and even more middle school students feel this way.
Then there are the hobbies that receive more criticism than others, sports means you’re ‘cool’ and fine arts does not. This idea causes a form of segregation among students and raises the chances of being bullied for specific extracurriculars. Music and theater students are 52 percent more likely to be bullied, a Pacific Standard study indicated, all because we are judging others for their hobbies.
Our hobbies, such as baseball, science club, band, or newspaper are what shapes our futures. But if there’s so much negativity around hobbies in schools it can be extremely detrimental to the future of a student. This is why it is important to be able to develop your interests safely in schools.
But there are still people who consider the bullying and judgmental nature of society as normal and believe everyone should be able to share their opinions of others and what they do. And even though I do agree that opinions are important, it is simply wrong to do something specifically for the reason of being hurtful, like bullying.
This needs to change and it could start with not having the groups as separated from the start. Introduce the basketball players to the choir students and encourage more teachers and students to support many different groups.
It is unreasonable to expect everyone to stop judging, but the goal is to heighten the percentage of students who feel like they belong at school and educate them on how their interests translate to the future.
Students need to flourish in their interests and hobbies and they can’t do this if they are constantly being judged, the amount of peer to peer judgment because of a hobby is too much and too hurtful.
